P. K. SHYAMSUNDAR, J. ( 1 ) ALTHOUGH these writ petitions are listed for orders today, with the consent of counsels all round I have heard the writ petitions and propose to dispose off both the writ petitions together on their merits, by a conjoint order to be made hereinafter. ( 2 ) WRIT Petition No. 2077/1992 is by the Chairman and Directors of the Kundagol Taluk Agricultural Produce Co-operative Marketing Society Ltd. , Kundagol. They seek for quashing a Government Order produced at Annexure-C, dated 27-12-1991 made by Government in this purported exercise of its power under Section 30-A of the Karnataka Co-operative Societies Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as 'the act') and appointing therein the Assistant Registrar of Co-operative Societies, savanur as the Special Officer for a period of six months or till such time as fresh elections are held to constitute the Committee of Management to the Society and the said Committee assumes office. ( 3 ) IN Writ Petition No. 25538/1991, the petitioner is the Mattigatti Vyavasaya Seva Sahaka'ri Sangha (N) at Mattigatti. Therein, the said society acting through its chairman Shivanagouda Ninganagouda Sannamani seeks for a direction that the petitioner-Society should be included in the list of members who are entitled to participate in the elections to be held to constitute the Committee of Management of the primary Society namely, Kundagol Taluk Agricultural Produce Co-operative marketing Society Ltd. , Kundagol. ( 4 ) IT is enough to make a brief reference to the facts in W. P. No. 2077/1992 as its disposal will result in the disposal of the sibling Writ Petition No. 25538/1991 referred to above. ( 5 ) AS mentioned earlier, the petitioners in W. P. No. 2077/1992 are the Chairmanand Directors of the Kundagol Taluka Agricultural Produce Co-operative Marketing society Ltd. , Kundagol. Under the scheme of the Act, a number of constituents who form the Electoral College from which members represent are elected to the Board of Directorate of the Primary Society whenever the term of the Committee expires. It is common knowledge, the term of Office of the Kundagol Taluka Agricultural produce Co-operative Marketing Society Ltd. having expired, elections were scheduled in die calendar of events put up. It is common knowledge, the term of Office of the Kundagol Taluka Agricultural produce Co-operative Marketing Society Ltd. having expired, elections were scheduled in die calendar of events put up. Pursuant to the same, a number of nominations were filed and here I must mention that the elections were to be held category-wise because the constituents of the Primary Society stood divided into several categories A, B, etc. Under the bye-laws of the Society, a number of members were elected fiom each category and it so happened that from under category-A all the nominations received by the Returning Officer had been rejected, whereas under category-B only two people could successfully register themselves as candidates. ( 6 ) THE position therefore was (sic) to constitute the Committee of Management of the Primary Society in a democratic fashion. That experiment had failed, because a large number of invalid nominations appear to have surfaced requiring as a consequence whole of the pre-election process being gone through afresh starting from inviting of fresh nominations from such of the constituencies to which there have been no nominations or insufficient nominations at the moment or for the present. ( 7 ) IT is in that situation Government stepped in and acted by passing the impugned order at Annexure-C appointing the Assistant Registrar of Co-operative societies, Savanur as the Special Officer under Section 30-A of the Act to run the society for a period of six months or until such time as the elections could be held and new Managing Committee is properly constituted. ( 8 ) THE aforesaid step taken by the Government is taken exception to by the three petitioners herein who happen to be the Chairman and Directors of the erstwhile managing Committee of the Primary Society. They contend that till such time as the new Managing Committee took office or came into vogue, it was not necessary for government to act (sic) by imposing an Officer of the Government to run the Society because under Rule 13 of the Rules framed under the Act, the old committee in office could during the period of transition continue in office till the new committee is elected and thereafter hand-over charge to such new committee. It is contended that in that circumstance Government should not have made the appointment of a Special officer under Section 30-A particularly when there was absolutely nothing to show or there was no complaint whatsoever with regard to the fact of a Committee of management to being still in office. ( 9 ) THE learned Government Pleader appearing for the respondent-State and Sri P. A. Kulkarni learned counsel appearing for a respondent who stood impleaded contend that power under Section 30-A of the Act can be invoked by the Government in a case where there is no Committee of Management or a Committee of Management in office cannot function at all. Mr. Kulkarnrin particular invited my attention to a decision of Venkatesh, J. as his Lordship then was in Jagdishpatil v State of Karnataka, 1981 (1) Kar. L. J. 310. In that case it was pointed out that power under Section 30-A can be exercised when there was paucity of members in the Managing committee or the Committee could not function for want of quorum. Before I advert to that decision it would be necessary to set out the provisions of Section 30-A and rule 13 of the Rules on which Mr. Chandanagoudar teamed counsel appearing for the petitioners relies in support of the writ petition. Section 30-A reads:"30-A. Appointment of Special Officer. (1) Where the State Government on a report made to it by the Registrar or otherwise is satisfied that any co-operative society is not functioning in accordance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or its by law or any order, direction or circular issued by the State Government or the registrar, it may notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, by order, appoint a Special Officer for such co-operative society for such period not exceeding two years". Rule 13 prescribes the mode of election of members of the Managing Committee by the General Body and carries a proviso which has a bearing on the question under consideration. Rule 13 reads thus:"13. Election of the members of the Committee by the General Body. (1) A co-operative society may, for Hie purpose of election of members to the committee, divide its membership into different groups on a territorial or any oilier basis. Rule 13 reads thus:"13. Election of the members of the Committee by the General Body. (1) A co-operative society may, for Hie purpose of election of members to the committee, divide its membership into different groups on a territorial or any oilier basis. (2) The bye-laws of such a society may specify the number of proportion of the members of Ihe committee, who may be elected to represent each such group on the committee and may specify further lhat such representative may be elected: (a) by all the members of the society; or (b) by only tbat particular group of members of the society to which such representative belong. (3) The election of the members of the committee shall be held on or before the date specified in the bye-laws, for the expiry of the term of office of the members. If no such date is specified in the bye-laws, the term of the members of the committee shall be deemed to expire at the time of the annual general meeting: provided lhat the committee whose term of office is deemed to so expire, shall continue in office till the new committee is elected and shall thereafter hand-over charge of the office to such new committee". ( 10 ) THE above rule enjoins the holding of elections to constitute the Managing Committee on or before the dates specified in the bye-laws of the society after the expiry of term of office of the members and if no such date is specified in the byelaws the term of office of the members of the committee shall be deemed to have expired at the time of me annual general meeting (sic) election of new members being held at such annual general meeting. But the proviso therein enjoins that a committee whose term of office is deemed or treated as having expired in the manner indicated herein, shall however continue in office till Ihe new committee is elected and will be duty bound thereafter to hand-over charge to the new committee. But the proviso therein enjoins that a committee whose term of office is deemed or treated as having expired in the manner indicated herein, shall however continue in office till Ihe new committee is elected and will be duty bound thereafter to hand-over charge to the new committee. ( 11 ) THE position under the Rules being clear, that immediately after the expiry of the term of Ihe committee in office, under ordinary circumstances elections had to be held earlier thereto or simultaneously and a new committee kept ready and be in the wings to be ushered in, in which event the new committee will lake office and the old committee will go out. But, if that docs not happen, in that wherever there is a hiatus or an inlerrugnum between the ushering in of Ihe new office bearers and the exit of the old office bearers, it does not mean there would always be a vacuum, so that government could step in and appoint a Special Officer to run the affairs of the society for a limited period during which time it is expected a new set-up democratically ushered in, would be ready to take up the running of the society. Strictly speaking, no such vacuum is created by the expiry of the term of office of the old committee and the delay in the ushering in of a new committee. It is in such a contingency, proviso to Rule 13 provides for the continuance of the old committee during that interval and enjoins that after continuing till such time as the new committee takes office, old committee should hand-over charge before vacating the office held till then. Resultant position is, in such a situation, the old committee would continue in office and therefore the society would be ina position to act in accordance with the act and the Rules, in which event there would be no occasion for the Government to intervene and to make an order appointing a Special Officer to the co-operative society by exercising power under Section 30-A of the Act In other words, so long as there is a Committee of Management in the eye of law that can discharge die functions and duties enjoined under the Act and the Rules, Government cannot take power to appoint a Special Officer under Section 30-A of the Act. This is precisely what has happened in the instant case. The term of the old committee had expired. Election had been called for but had become inchoate because there were not required number of valid nominations in category-A although category-B appears to have been filled up. The question would be whether in such a situation the Government could have appointed a Special Officer and regard being had to my view that the erstwhile Committee of Management being deemed to be in office by virtue of rule 13 of the Rules referred to supra, no hiatus had been caused and there would be no impediment or difficulty in running the society in accordance with the Act and the rules. The appointment of the Special Officer for running the administration of the society for a period of six months made under the impugned order of the Government at Annexure-B appears to be untenable. ( 12 ) 1 must now advert to the decision of my brother Venkatesh, J. in Jagdish Patil's case, which in my view is clearly distinguish for that was the case in which the appointment of the Special Officer became imminent because out of a committee of 8 people, 5 had resigned resulting in the Board of Management being rendered incapacitated from conducting any business under the Act and the Rules. It is in such a situation, Government stepped in and filled the breach by appointing a Special Officer in exercise of power under Section 30-A of the Act, which in the facts and circumstances of the case been certainly an instance of valid exercise of power. The position in this case being different from what was prevailing in Jagdishpatil's case referred to supra that decision has been considered. ( 13 ) THEREFORE, it is for the reasons mentioned above, I must allow these writ petitionsand quash the appointment of the Special Officer made under Section 30-A of the Act under Annexure-C. ( 14 ) RULE issued and affrmed. ( 15 ) THERE will now be fresh elections from category-A constituency of the society and whoever is required to take steps will take necessary steps to elect members from that category within 45 days from the date of this order. ( 15 ) THERE will now be fresh elections from category-A constituency of the society and whoever is required to take steps will take necessary steps to elect members from that category within 45 days from the date of this order. In the light of this order, there will now be a direction to the Returning Officer concerned to hear out the grievance of the petitioners in the connected Writ Petition No, 25538/1991 touching the alleged irregularities in the voters list comprising of the electorate of the society. The Returning Officer will take into consideration the objections raised and if he finds the objections to be valid, he will proceed to make necessary changes in the voters list. These are all the directions I make in the said writ petition which stands finally disposed off. There is no order as to costs. ( 16 ) LET a copy of this order be sent to the Returning Officer for bis information and to take appropriate action in the light of the observations made in this order and in accordance with law. ( 17 ) SRI Kulkarni, learned counsel for im pleading 4th respondent says that Jagdish Patil's case was reversed later by a Division Bench of this Court (sic ). It is not necessary for me to go into. ( 18 ) NOW that I have heard the submissions of Mr. Kulkarni, learned counsel for impleading 4th respondent, I think it is just and proper to allow the application made by Mr. Kulkarni for impleading 4th respondent. That application is therefore allowed. There will now be a direction to implead the applicant hi W. P. No. 2077/1992 (sic ). Let him be impleaded and the cause title be amended. ( 19 ) HIGH Court Government Pleader will kindly communicate this order immediatelyto the concerned. --- *** --- .